abc's meteorologist indred petersons leads us off tonight. >> reporter: parts of missouri under as much as 16 feet of water. more than 11 levvees breached. toppling hamlets in olive give up on sandbagsing because it's too dangerous. these floods now claiming 24 lives and hundreds of homes. in missouri, the river cresting overnight but still a threat. this is an area locals call the ditch. typically void of water. today, you can see it's coming out of the mississippi and head to it's tleftenning a local power substation. now the race to protect property and save lives. the basketball team in full force filling sandbags all around the community center. how do people feel? it's reached its highest since 1993, i think. >> reporter: residents in boats surveying their homes. >> they go to work in the morning, everyone's fine, and they come home eight hours later, and we had water rise four feet. >> reporter: here, you can see the waters topping fences, over street signs in. was matt's home before the flood's hit. here, it's parentally submerged and finally swept away by the waters. >> living